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Biodiversity and Conservation (2006) 15:3983–4026
DOI 10.1007/s10531-005-3015-2
Springer 2006
-1
Plant biodiversity in China: richly varied, endangered,
and in need of conservation
JORDI LÓPEZ-PUJOL1,2,*, FU-MIN ZHANG2 and SONG GE2
1
GReB, Laboratori de Botànica, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avda. Joan XXIII s/n,
E-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; 2Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute
of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, The People’s Republic of China; *Author
for correspondence (e-mail: [email protected])
Received 20 January 2005; accepted in revised form 9 September 2005
Key words: Biodiversity, Conservation, Endemic, Flora, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan,
Threatened
Abstract. China is among the world’s richest countries in terms of plant biodiversity. Besides the
abundant flora, containing some 33,000 vascular plants (30,000 angiosperms, 250 gymnosperms, and
2600 pteridophytes), there is extraordinary ecosystem diversity, as well as a large pool of both wild
and cultivated germplasms. China is also considered one of the main centers of origin and diversification for seed plants on Earth, and is especially profuse in phylogenetically primitive taxa and/or
paleoendemics due to the refuge role glaciation played during the Quaternary period. The collision
with the Indian subcontinent significantly enriched Chinese flora and led to the formation of many
neoendemisms. However, flora distribution remains uneven, and some local floristic hotspots are
found across China, such as Yunnan, Sichuan and Taiwan. Unfortunately, this biodiversity faces
enormous threats, which have increased substantially over the last 50 years. The combined effects of
habitat destruction and/or fragmentation, environmental contamination, over-exploitation of natural resources, and to a lesser extent, introduction of exotic species, have caused irreparable damage
to China’s plant biodiversity. Burgeoning economic and population growth have also contributed to
this deterioration. It is believed that up to 5000 flora species are currently endangered in China, with
some taxa having already become extinct. Although in recent years government authorities have
made some efforts to preserve biodiversity, much work remains to be done. While China has
established an extensive network of nature reserves and protected areas, encompassing more than
16% of the total land area, insufficient budgetary and staffing commitments are common limitations
in their management structures. Ex-situ conservation is also deficient, primarily because the
botanical gardens are not representative of several local floras, nor are they often of adequate size or
representative of endangered species. The lack of effective and efficient environmental legislation and
education are also problems that continue to accelerate the loss of plant biodiversity in China.
Introduction: the significance of plant biodiversity in China
Biodiversity is the general term referring to the total sum of life’s variety in a
region, or indeed across the whole Earth. According to the Convention on
Biological Diversity, three levels of biodiversity, all strongly inter-correlated,
exist: ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity (Glowka et al.
1994). Even discarding ethical and aesthetic considerations, the loss of plant
biodiversity poses enormous direct and indirect economic consequences, as
plants are essential sources of food and medicines, among other uses. The
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over-exploitation of plant resources, in tandem with increasing habitat
destruction and/or fragmentation, pollution, and introduction of exotic species, have led numerous plant species to the inevitable brink of extinction.
Today, it is widely recognized that the rate of plant extinction has reached one
species per day due to human activities, a rate some 1000–10,000 times faster
than would naturally occur otherwise (Hilton-Taylor 2000), and a trend which
may result in the disappearance of between 60,000 and 100,000 plant species
during the next 50 years (Akeroyd 2002; Bramwell 2002). The latest investigations on the scope of the world’s threatened flora suggest that as many as
half of the world’s plant species may be qualified as threatened by extinction
under the IUCN criteria (Pitman and Jørgensen 2002).
China is one of the richest countries in plant biodiversity, ranking third in
the world (after Brazil and Colombia) in the number of species (Anonymous
1996a; Liu et al. 2003), and one of the world’s 17 ‘mega-diversity’ countries
(Mittermeier et al. 1997). The estimated number of vascular plant species is
nearly 33,000, with 30,000 angiosperms, 250 gymnosperms, and 2600 pteridophytes (Table 1). Furthermore, approximately 2200 bryophytes can be
found in China. There are more than 3000 different genera and ca. 334
families of angiosperms, about 42 genera and 11 families of gymnosperms,
231 genera belonging to 63 families of pteridophytes, and nearly 500 genera
and 106 families of bryophytes (Lu 2004; Wang 2004; Wu et al. 2004a, b;
Table 2). Nevertheless, these figures do not include data from either Taiwan
or Hong Kong (see Table 3), which we discuss separately from mainland
China due to their own idiosyncrasies. Taiwan, renowned as a ‘Natural
Botanic Garden’ (Gu 1998), harbors more than 4000 vascular plants, with
more than 3400 angiosperms, about 30 gymnosperms, more than 600
Table 1. Richness of Chinese flora (data are only for mainland China).
Taxa
Species in China (SC)
Species in the world (SW)
SC/SW (%)
Lichen
Fungi
Algae
Bryophyta
Pteridophyta
Gymnospermae
Angiospermae
2000c
8000b,d
8979d–12,500a
2200a,b,c,d
2300a–2600b, c, d, g
192a–270d,i
25,000b–30,000c,d,h
10,000f
70,000e
40,000e
15,000f
13,025f
980f
258,650f
20.0
11.4
22.4–31.2
14.7
17.6–20.0
19.6–27.5
9.7–11.6
a
Li (2003).
NEPA (1994).
c
Xue (1997).
d
SEPA (1998).
e
Groombridge (1992).
f
IUCN (2004).
g
Lu (2004).
h
Li (1996).
i
Wang (2004).
b
2200a,b,c
2300a–2600b,c,g
232f (192a–270c)
27,403f (25,000b–30,000c )
33,000
225d
–
79f
>9000
10,000e–18,000c
Bryophyta
Pteridophyta
Gymnospermae
Angiospermae
Total
b
Li (2003).
NEPA (1994).
c
SEPA (1998).
d
MFC (2004).
e
Fu (1992).
f
Values calculated from data contained in FOC (2004).
g
Lu (2004).
h
Ying and Zhang (1994).
i
Wang (2004).
a
Known species
in China (KSC)
Endemic species
in China (ESC)
Taxa
10.2
–
34.0f
>33.0
30.3–54.5
ESC/KSC (%)
Table 2. Endemicity of the Chinese flora (data are only for mainland China).
8b–13a
5b–6a
5a,f–8b,h
243h (232b–246a)
253b–270a
Endemic genera
in China (EGC)
494b–495a
224a,b–231g
42i (34b–35a,f)
3116b–3128a
3868b–3882a
Known genera
in China (KGC)
1.6b–2.6a
2.2b–2.6a
14.3a,f–23.5b
7.4b–7.8a
6.5b–6.9a
EGC/KGC (%)
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10.00
26.04
5.37–12.01
27.10
11.32
194.09
7000h/910i
5000 j/–
2859k–6388l/286m
4200n/630n
4077p/1067p
2135r/25s
70,000 (0.73%)
19,200 (0.20%)
53,200 (0.55%)
15,500 (0.16%)
36,000 (0.37%)
1100 (0.01%)
–/–
–/150a
2708k/–
–/–
3420p/977p
1911r/–
15,000a/–
8711b/–
–/–
–/–
Angiosperms2
b
Yang et al. (2004).
Li and Zhang (2002).
c
SUU (1994).
d
Miller (2003).
e
Donoghue et al. (1997).
f
Kelley (2001).
g
CI (2004).
h
Xu and Wilkes (2004a).
i
Xu and Wilkes (2004b).
j
Zhang and Cao (1995).
k
YWRP (2004).
l
Wu et al. (2003a, b).
m
Xu et al. (2000).
n
Carpenter (2001).
o
Zhang and Corlett (2003).
p
Hsieh (2003).
q
Hallingbäck and Hodgetts (2000).
r
Corlett et al. (2000).
s
Groombridge (1994).
1
In parentheses, percentage of the hotpots’ area with respect total China’s land.
2
First value is the total number of species in the hotspot, second value is the number of endemic species to the hotspot.
a
4.21
1.94
0.60
2.40
16,600a/–
9500b/1467b
12,000d/3500d
12,000f/3500f
394,000 (4.1%)
488,000 (5.1%)
2,000,000 (20.8%)
500,000 (5.2%)
Yunnan Province
Sichuan Province
Qinghai-Xizang Plateau
‘South-Central China’
hotspot
NW Yunnan
Xishuangbanna
Three Gorges Area
Hainan
Taiwan
Hong Kong
No. of vascular
plants per 100 km2
Vascular plants2
Area (in km2)1
Hotspot
Table 3. The Chinese ‘hotspots’.
–/–
–/–
41k/–
–/–
28p/18p
9r/–
100a/21a
89b/14c
–/–
–/20g
Gymnosperms2
–/–
–/–
110k/–
–/–
629p/72p
215r/–
1500a/–
708c/–
–/100d
–/100g
Pteridophytes2
–/–
–/–
–/–
412o/–
900q–1404o/–
360o/–
1500a/–
–/–
641e/–
–/50g
Bryophytes2
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pteridophytes and about 900 bryophytes (Hsu and Agoramoorthy 1997;
Hsieh 2003). An area measuring only about 1100 km2 and one of the most
densely populated areas on Earth, the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region (HKSAR) retains a very rich plant biodiversity, with more than 2100
higher plants. Of these, ca. 1900 are angiosperm species and more than 200
are pteridophytes (Xing et al. 1999; Corlett et al. 2000). Moreover, about 360
bryophytes (Zhang and Corlett 2003) and 260 lichens (Wu 2002) have been
reported in the HKSAR.
China encompasses enormous variations in geographical, climatological and
topographical features, in addition to a complex and ancient geological history
(with most of its lands formed as early as the end of the Mesozoic period). This
country spans five climatic zones (cold-temperate, temperate, warm-temperate,
subtropical, and tropical), and is home to the highest mountain ranges on
Earth (the Himalayas), vast plateaus such as Qinghai-Xizang (‘Tibetan’),
deserts (e.g. Taklamakan), and at least in part, Asia’s greatest rivers, including
the Mekong, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, and Yellow rivers. All of these features
contribute to the enormous diversity of habitats and ecosystems found in
China, as well as to the vast species diversity described above. This ecosystem
richness includes several types of forests (coniferous, broad-leaved, and mixed),
grasslands, shrubs, meadows, deserts (covering up to 20% of the Chinese
landmass), marshes, savannas, tundras, and alpine and snow ecosystems.
Moreover, the vegetation of China remains unique in maintaining an unbroken
connection between tropical, subtropical, temperate, and boreal forests (Qian
2002; Qian et al. 2003; FOC 2004).
China also contains a large pool of wild germplasms, including many
primitive members in different plant groups (about 1200 primitive, relict, or
monotypic genera currently found in China are already extinct in parts of the
Northern Hemisphere; Fu 1992). Moreover, genetic diversity in cultivated
plants is equally rich. China is one of the eight original centers of crop plants in
the world (Vavilov 1951), with more than 200 originated and differentiated
extant types (Gu 1998), resulting from more than 7000 years of agricultural
activities (Chapman and Wang 2002; Hancock 2004). Notable examples include rice (Oryza sativa), which consists of some 50,000 strains and three wild
relatives (O. granulata, O. officinalis, and O. rufipogon), soybeans (Glycine
max), embracing about 20,000 strains in China, and wheat (Triticum sp.), with
ca. 30,000 cultivars (SEPA 1998). Nearly 10,000 cultivars and crops breeds are
cultivated in China. Of the nearly 300 fruit tree species belonging to the 81
genera and to the more than 50 families currently found in China, 50 species
were domesticated in China (Zhu 2004). In addition, China boasts at least 400–
500 wild species of vegetables, 379 wild species of oil plants, more than 200 wild
species of starch plants and sugar plants, and about 200 wild species of aromatic plants (MOA 1995; Zhu 2004). It is estimated that as many as 2200
ornamental species belonging to 30 different genera originated in China (SEPA
1998), and nearly 11,000 species of medicinal plants have been in use since the
Paleolithic period (Hamilton 2004).
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Endemic and/or threatened species: current status
The flora in China is extremely rich and diversified, which has been attributed
to the highly complex and extended geological and evolutionary history
inherent to the Asian continent (Qian and Ricklefs 1999, and references
therein). Determining the reasons for this exceptionally rich flora garnered
widespread attention by botanists during the last decades of the 20th Century
(Raven and Axelrod 1974; Latham and Ricklefs 1993; Axelrod et al. 1996; Guo
et al. 1998; Guo 1999; Qian and Ricklefs 1999; Qian 2001; Tiffney and
Manchester 2001; Qian 2002; Qian et al. 2003), briefly explained below.
One of the main features of Chinese vascular flora is its ancient origin. While
the discovery of some primitive angiosperm fossil records dating from the early
Cretaceous period in Liaoning, such as those of Archaefructus liaoningensis, as
well as in the Heilongjiang provinces (Sun et al. 1998; Chapman and Wang
2002), lends credence to the belief that China was one of the areas of angiosperm origin, the lack of a continuous fossil record prevents the formation of
any definitive conclusions. Regardless, what is clear is that China was a center
of angiosperm diversification and evolutionary radiation (Takhtajan 1969; Wu
1989; Latham and Ricklefs 1993; Qian and Ricklefs 1999), due to its close
connection to the centers of origin of flowering plants, most likely located in
tropical regions of SE Asia (Morley 2000; Qian 2001). The link to southern
tropical areas dates back at least 200 million years (Hallam 1994), and
undoubtedly played a major role in enriching not only angiosperm, but also
gymnosperm and pteridophytic Chinese flora (Guo et al. 1998).
Plate tectonics have greatly influenced the topographic and climatic modeling of China, thereby exerting tremendous influence over the country’s floristics. China’s landmass was formed from several tectonic plates originating
from Laurasia and Gondwana. The initial collision of the Gondwanan terranes
with what is now northern China in the Triassic-early Jurassic period, and the
further impact of the Indian subcontinent during the Eocene period (Morley
2000; Qian 2001), are responsible for China having inherited elements of both
Laurasian and Gondwanaland floras. Although China (and East Asia) were
separated from western Eurasia by the Tethys Sea (the Turgai barrier), a land
bridge linking eastern and western Eurasia ensured their connection more than
ca. 35 million years ago (Hallam 1994), permitting a floristic exchange with
Central Asia (and subsequently with the Mediterranean basin and even North
Africa; Wu 1980; Qian and Ricklefs 1999). Moreover, the connection with
North America via the Bering Sea land bridge allowed the migration of
numerous species from these areas (Guo 1999; Qian et al. 2003).
Perhaps the most important force shaping the contemporary floristic richness of China is the climatic change that occurred during the Neogene period.
The limited ice coverage in East Asia during the Quaternary glaciations (significantly milder than in Europe and North America, and limited only to
northern areas north of 60¢ N; Qian and Ricklefs 1999) enabled the Chinese
paleocontinent to serve as a refuge for many ancient species, ensuring their
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survival to the present day. This fact, coupled to the close relationship that
China shared with the evolutionary centers of vascular plants in tropical Asia
(which served as a source for the introduction of new lineages), is responsible
for the exceptional richness of several phylogenetically primitive vascular plant
groups in China; e.g., pteridophytes, gymnosperms, Magnoliidae, and
Ranunculidae (Qian and Ricklefs 1999; Qian 2001). Noteworthy is the presence
of very old gymnosperm lineages comprising paleoendemics, most having become extinct long ago in other regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Many
gymnosperms are monotypic or oligotypic, denoting an antiquity most likely
stemming from relics or remnants of wider groups from the Tertiary period or
even earlier (Qian 2001). Some examples of antique lineages include the preJurassic Cycads; the Cretaceous Cercidiphyllaceae, Celastraceae, Magnoliaceae, Rhamnaceae, Tetracentraceae, Trochodendraceae, Cephalotaxus, Picea,
and Torreya; and the Tertiary Bretschneideraceae, Calycanthaceae, Eucommiaceae, Myricaceae, Nyssaceae, Saururaceae, Simaroubaceae, Theaceae,
Cryptomeria, Cunninghamia, Ephedra, Keteleeria, Podocarpus, and Tsuga.
Some of these paleoendemics (dating from the Cretaceous and Tertiary
periods) have remained superficially unchanged for millions of years, thus
earning the name ‘living fossils’ (Qian 2001). Examples include Cathaya
argyrophylla, Cycas panzhihuaensis, Ginkgo biloba, Glyptostrobus pensilis, and
Metasequoia glyptostroboides, all of which illustrate the ancient origin and
persistence of endemic Chinese flora. Other ‘living fossils’, although not
strictly endemic, include: Amentotaxus yunnanensis, Cunninghamia lanceolata,
Fokienia hodginsii, Keteleeria davidiana, Platycladus orientalis, and Taiwania
cryptomerioides.
The southwestern part of China is also the cradle of numerous neoendemisms, in addition to paleoendemisms. The collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia has been postulated to explain the tremendous floristic richness
of that area, with over 17,000 species of seed plants (Qian 2002). This collision,
which took place during the Eocene period, resulted in the formation of the
Himalayas and the surrounding mountain ranges, in addition to the QinghaiXizang Plateau. Moreover, it proved the genesis of the monsoon climate, of
great importance for the further floristic development of the entire SE Asia
region (Chapman and Wang 2002). One of these surrounding mountain ranges,
the Hengduan Mountains, as well as the large watersheds of the Mekong and
Salween rivers, became natural barriers preventing species from spreading,
thereby favoring both variance and intense allopatric speciation processes (Wu
and Wu 1996; Qian 2002). The vast array of new habitats created by the uplift
of the Himalayas and surrounding mountains across a wide altitudinal range
made this region not only a survival centre for relict species, but also in terms
of speciation and evolution (Chapman and Wang 2002; Qian 2002). Some
examples of this ‘paradox’ are the genera Primula and Rhododendron, present
in the region before the Himalayan uplift and which became highly diversified
through allopatry with the creation of numerous new habitats (Chapman and
Wang 2002). Most species generated there penetrated further into the tropical
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and warm-temperate regions of eastern China, as well as the temperate and
boreal regions of northern China (Qian 2002).
It is widely accepted that more than 10,000 higher plant species are currently endemic to China (Fu 1992; Pitman and Jørgensen 2002), with some
estimates putting this number at 18,000 (Groombridge 1994; SEPA 1998). In
fact, the Sino-Himalayan region is regarded as among the leading centers of
endemism in the world, in addition to California, the European Alps, the
Mediterranean region, the alpine regions of central Africa, New Caledonia,
Hawaii, and the Cape region of South Africa (Kruckeberg and Rabinowitz
1985). There are many extremely narrow endemics, taxa with typically a few
individuals restricted to only one locality, such as Craigia kwangsiensis, Cycas
szechuanensis, Magnolia zenii, Pinus squamata, Rhododendron liboense, and
Ulmus gaussenii. A few species have only one or two individuals; e.g.,
Gleditsia vestita, a taxon reduced to two individuals in Hengshan Mountain,
Hunan Province (He 1998); Carpinus putoensis, with a sole plant located in
Putuo island (Zhoushan archipelago, Zhejiang Province), discovered in 1930
and not subsequently found in any other locale (He 1998); and Betula
halophila, with only one remaining tree in Balibagai (northern Xinjiang;
IUCN 2004).
About 243 genera are endemic to China (Ying and Zhang 1994; see Table 2),
as well as 4 families, the relict and monotypic Ginkgoaceae, Eucommiaceae,
Davidiaceae, and Acanthochlamydaceae, although the latter two remain
taxonomically controversial and some authors have moved them to lower
ranks. In addition, nearly endemic families include the monotypic Bretschneideraceae, Rhoipteleaceae, Cercidiphyllaceae, Circaeasteraceae, Eupteleaceae,
Tetracentraceae, and Trochodendraceae. Of the well-known endemic genera in
China, most are monotypic or oligotypic, such as Ajaniopsis, Cathaya,
Changium, Craigia, Chuanminshen, Dysosma, Echinocodon, Glyptostrobus,
Kingdonia, Metanemone, Metasequoia, Ombrocharis, Phaeostigma, Pseudolarix, Pseudotaxus, Schnabelia, Semiliquidambar, Sinojackia, Sinoleontopodium,
and Tetrapanax.
Perhaps the most well known example of endemism is the family
Ginkgoaceae. Once widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, at present the
family has only one living species: the dioecious Ginkgo biloba, a ‘living fossil’
due to its ancient origins (dating to the lower Jurassic period, about 190 million
years ago) and high resemblance to fossil species from the Early Cretaceous
Ginkgo adiantoides (Del Tredici et al. 1992). Taxonomically located within its
own division (Ginkgophyta), Ginkgo biloba is cultivated worldwide for its
horticultural value, timber, and medicinal properties. The only presumed wild
population, although some doubt persists regarding its true ‘wildness’, is located in Tianmushan (Zhejiang Province), and contained only 167 individuals
in the 1989 census (Del Tredici et al. 1992). Nevertheless, three additional
populations have recently been proposed as wild: Wuchuanshan (Guizhou
Province), Dahong (Hubei Province) and Longchou (Guangxi Province; Zheng
et al. 2004). The endemic and monotypic genus Cathaya, also considered a
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‘living fossil’ and occasionally referred to as the ‘Panda’ of the plant kingdom
(He 1998), has a sole species, C. argyrophylla, discovered in 1958 in Huaping
(Guangxi). Another example of a ‘living fossil’ is the endemic genus
Pseudolarix, with one unique species (P. kaempferi).
Although not endemic to China, there are still many genera whose predominant species have been recorded there (Wu et al. 2003a, b). For example,
nearly 650 Rhododendron species of the approximately 1025 distributed
worldwide have been recorded in China, representing the country’s largest
plant genus (Ng and Corlett 2000). Other genera featuring a high species’
richness are Saussurea (320 species found in China, 400 worldwide), Pedicularis
(352 C, 600 W), Camellia (98 C, 119 W), Primula (300 C, 500 W), Gentiana
(248 C, 360 W), Aconitum (211 C, 400 W), Ligularia (100 C, 150 W), Delphinium (173 C, 350 W), and Corydalis (300 C, 440 W) (FOC 2004). Moreover,
China boasts the world’s most highly diverse Bambusoideae subfamily (the
‘bamboos’), with the principal centers located in southern China (Bystriakova
et al. 2003). In fact, of the nearly 1500 species of bamboos known in the world,
almost half (626 species) are found in China (Ohrnberger 1999).
A second issue concerning Chinese flora is its high level of endangerment.
More than 3000 species are endangered at present (Fu 1992; Gu 1998),
although some estimates place this figure at 4000–5000 (Wang 1992; NEPA
1994; Xu 1997). Unfortunately, some plant species (ca. 200 since the 1950s;
Zhang et al. 2000) had already become extinct in China during the past decades
and can actually only be found in the literature; e.g., Adiantum lianxianense,
Dalbergia sacerdotum, Ormosia howii, and Otophora unilocularis, which are EX
(‘extinct’) following the IUCN criteria (IUCN 2004). Firmiana major, a tree
species that survives only as a few individual plants situated around temples
and villages in Yunnan Province, is regarded as EW (‘extinct in the wild’); its
wild populations probably once existed in central and western Yunnan (IUCN
2004). Rhododendron kanehirae, which is native to Taiwan, is also considered
EW. Nevertheless, many species remain on the brink of extinction, including
Abies beshanzuensis, Acer yangbiense, Archangiopteris itoi, Cycas hongheensis,
Cycas debaoensis, Cystoathyrium chinense, Myristica yunnanensis, Nyssa yunnanensis, Parakmeria omeiensis, and Sonneratia hainanensis.
Despite the fact that many species have been severely threatened by
extinction for some time in China, it was not until 1984 that a national list of
rare and endangered plant species was first published (Fu 1992), encompassing 388 species [8 listed as ‘first grade’ nationally protected (NPC-1), 159
species as ‘second grade’, and 221 species as ‘third grade’]. In 1992, the first
volume of the China Plant Red Data Book was published, including all 388 of
the endangered taxa warranting protection. Of these, 121 were listed as
‘endangered’, 110 as ‘rare’, and 157 as ‘vulnerable’. The second volume of the
Red Book is currently in preparation and will contain 640 additional species,
with the third volume to follow soon after. Meanwhile, China promulgated,
based on the request of the Statute of Protection of Wild Plants in China
(implemented in 1997), the first compilation of the List of National Key Wild
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Flora Under Protection in 1999, which included 419 species and 13 groups
(3 families, 9 genera and 1 section), distributed into two protection categories.
Category I (maximum protection) includes 7 species and 4 groups, while
category II lists 352 species and 9 groups. However, only 675 taxa (species
and subspecies) from mainland China have been evaluated in the 2004 IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species, with 474 classified into one of the threat
IUCN categories (CR, EN or VU), and 4 already extinct (IUCN 2004). In
the Taiwan and Hong Kong regions, 85 and 6 taxa are listed as threatened,
respectively. These values far fall below the estimates noted above (up to
5000), suggesting a limited scope to the conservation studies of Chinese flora
undertaken in recent years. Moreover, the plants that appear in the 2004
IUCN Red List are globally threatened; a regional assessment for all 675
evaluated taxa in China needs to be conducted.
Most areas of small range species co-occurrence (centers of endemism) are
severely threatened by human activities and have suffered significant habitat loss;
i.e., the ‘biodiversity hotspots’ (Myers et al. 2000; Brooks et al. 2002). Three of
the 34 listed world hotspots in 2005 (Mittermeier et al. 2005) are located almost
completely (‘South-Central China’) or partially (‘Indo-Burma’ and ‘Himalaya’)
within China’s borders. The South-Central China hotspot is mainly comprised of
the Hengduan Mountains region, which comprises portions of southeastern
Xizang (Tibet), western Sichuan and northern Yunnan. Although this area
represents only 5% of China’s total land mass, it harbors nearly half the total
number (12,000) of all Chinese flowering plants, of which 3500 are endemic to
this area (Kelley 2001) (Table 3). In addition, more than 200 genera are endemic
to the Hengduan Mountains, including Acanthochlamys, Anemoclema, Dipoma,
Formania, Isometrum, Metanemone, Salweenia, Sinadoxa, and Skapanthus
(Chapman and Wang 2002). Nevertheless, it is home to only about 8% of the
primary vegetation (Myers et al. 2000). This hotspot is most likely the botanically
richest region – of comparable size – in the world’s temperate zone (Kelley 2001).
The Hengduan Mountains are recognized as an important Tertiary center of
species diversification, as well as a refugium for certain Laurasian angiosperm
groups (Circaeaster, Kingdonia, Primula, Rhodiola, Rhododendron, and Saussurea). The South-Central China hotspot is also very rich in medicinal plants,
harboring more than 2000 species, mainly used in Tibetan medicinal drugs (Xu
and Wilkes 2004a). Some of these are endemic; e.g., Corydalis benecincta, Incarvillea forrestii, Lilium lophophorum, and Meconopsis speciosa.
Due to its highly diverse geographical features and climate conditions
(subtropical and tropical), Yunnan Province is home to more than half of the
vascular plants in China, comprising nearly 17,000 species, whereas it only
accounts for 4% of the total area. Of these, 15,000 are angiosperms, 100
gymnosperms, 1500 pteridophytes, and 1500 bryophytes (Yang et al. 2004) (see
Table 3). Moreover, Yunnan flora is similarly characterized by a high degree of
endemicity. Thirty angiosperm genera occur only in Yunnan (e.g.,
Chaerophylopsis, Cyphoteca, Ferrocalamus, Manglietiastrum, Musella, and
Siliquamomum, among others; Guo and Long 1998). In addition to the
3993
northern section of the province, which belongs to the South-Central China
world hotspot, the Xishuangbanna region, located in southern Yunnan and
bordering Laos and Myanmar, belongs to the ‘Indo-Burma’ hotspot. It harbors approximately 5000 species of higher plants (Zhang and Cao 1995; Liu
et al. 2002), with more than 150 endemic to Xishuangbanna (Table 3). This
region also contains 94 species of bamboos (Chapman and Wang 2002). Due
mainly to extensive deforestation, approximately 340 plant species are now
recognized as threatened in Xishuangbanna (Zhang and Cao 1995), while
about 600 have most likely been lost there (Liu et al. 2002). Hainan Island is
also part of the larger Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, featuring high plant
diversity with about 4200 species, 630 of which are endemic to the island
(Carpenter 2001) (Table 3), and 50 of which are endangered.
Sichuan is the second-ranking Chinese province (including the Chongqing
Municipality) in terms of plant biodiversity after Yunnan, containing about
9500 species of vascular plants from over 1600 genera distributed in 230
families. Of these, 8711 are angiosperms, 89 are gymnosperms (Li and
Zhang 2002), and 708 are pteridophytes (SUU 1994; see Table 3). Sichuanese flora also contains numerous relict and/or endemic species; among the
vascular plants, 1467 species are endemics (Li and Zhang 2002). Xizang,
with lands crossing two world biodiversity hotspots (South-Central China
and Himalaya), represents yet another biodiverse plant-rich area, harboring
9600 species of vascular plants. Nevertheless, the biogeographical area to
which belongs, the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, contains over 12,000 species
distributed in 1500 genera of vascular plants. Of these, about 3500 species
and at least 29 genera are endemic to the Plateau, including ca. 100 pteridophytes (Miller 2003) (Table 3), although at least 40 species are seriously
endangered.
The Taiwan and Hong Kong regions can also be regarded as ‘local hotspots’.
Taiwan, mainly due to its insularity, has a rich flora of endemic taxa (about onequarter of the total flora; i.e., 1000–1100 taxa; Gu 1998; Hsieh 2003) (see Table
3), including Abies kawakamii, Amentotaxus formosana, Calocedrus formosana,
Camellia hengchunensis, Chamaecyparis formosensis, Cycas taitungensis,
Keteleeria davidiana var. formosana, and Lilium formosanum. The Red Book of
Taiwan lists 502 species, of which 3 are already extinct, 14 are endangered, 62
are vulnerable, and 423 are listed as rare (TESRI 2004). In only the last twenty
years, 11 species have been added to the Taiwanese Red Book. Approximately
400 species (57 pteridophytes, 4 gymnosperms, and 339 angiosperms) of vascular plants are considered very rare in the Hong Kong SAR (Corlett et al.
2000), with some severely threatened, including Aristolochia westlandii and
Diospyros vaccinioides (both are CR based on the IUCN criteria; IUCN 2004).
Hong Kong also contains examples of endemic flora; e.g., the recently described
species Asarum hongkongensis and Balanophora hongkongensis (HKISD 2004),
as well as the rarities Bulbophyllum tsaenum, Macromitrium brevituberculatum,
Osmunda mildei, and Syrrhopodon hongkongensis (Chau et al. 2000; Zhang and
Corlett 2003).
3994
Threats to Chinese plant biodiversity
Natural processes, such as demographic, genetic, and environmental stochasticity, may threaten or directly cause the extinction of plant species. Catastrophes (e.g., floods and storms) are relatively frequent in some areas of China and
can easily cause local extinction of plant populations. Nevertheless, these processes are often enhanced by the impact of anthropogenic activities, resulting in
negative synergic effects on biodiversity. The main human threats to the Chinese
plant biodiversity, both directly and indirectly, are described below.
Habitat destruction
Destruction and/or fragmentation of natural habitats are the principal causes
of species extinction. China has experienced in the past, particularly from 1950s
onward, a tremendous loss of natural habitats, mainly due to the over-logging
of forests (for timber, fuel wood and paper), as well as from the conversion of
both forests and grasslands into croplands. Forests are among the most
severely affected ecosystems, with an estimated deforestation rate of 0.6% per
year throughout the 1990s (Dinerstein and Wikramanayake 1993). Some areas
have suffered a dramatic reduction in forest coverage; e.g., the rainforest on
Hainan Island covered 25.7% of the total area in the early 1950s; 30 years
later, this coverage had decreased to 10.6% (Chen and Chen 1998). The forest
cover of Xishuangbanna has also diminished, from more than 60% to less than
30% (Zhang and Cao 1995). Indeed, approximately 70% of the natural forests
from the three largest coniferous areas in China (Da Hinggan Ling, Changbai
Mountains and southwestern Hengduan Mountains) have been cleared (SEPA
1998). Throughout China, however, forest cover has progressively increased
over the last 40 years due to afforestation and/or reforestation campaigns. In
1962, forest cover measured around 9.0% of the total land, while in 1981 it had
increased to 12.0%, and then to 16.5% by the end of 2002 (World Bank 2001;
SEPA 2003). Nevertheless, nearly all of these new plantations, which replaced
logged natural forests, have been mono-specific, often consisting of exotic
species, and greatly diminishing the biodiversity value of the original forestlands (World Bank 2001; Xu and Wilkes 2004a). The progressing expansion of
the desert in the northeastern provinces (Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu,
Xizang, and Qinghai) is a direct consequence of the massive conversion of
grasslands into crop fields, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. At present,
China exhibits the highest ratio of actual to potential desertified land in the
world (2,620,000 km2 are suffering desertification of a total 3,320,000 km2
susceptible to desertification; Gu 1998; World Bank 2001). About 67,000 km2
of grasslands from the 1950s to 1970s were converted into farmlands as part of
the national food self-sufficiency policy, and it is estimated that about 34% of
grasslands are moderately to severely degraded, with ca. 90% degraded to
some degree (World Bank 2001). Grasslands destruction has palpable
3995
consequences even in urban areas; e.g., the increasing incidence of dust storms
in Beijing. Moreover, the loss of vegetation cover and the subsequent erosion
of soil and water (the estimated area subjected to erosion is approaching
3.67 million km2 – 38% of the country’s land – and increases 10,000 km2
annually; Zhang et al. 2000; CBD 2004) may contribute to the incidence of
such natural disasters as floods and landslides, which have significantly
increased in the past 40 years. For instance, the devastating floods in the
middle reaches of the Yangtze River and in northeastern China in 1998 are
believed to have been caused, at least in part, by the deforestation of river
catchments in those areas (Zhang et al. 2000; World Bank 2001).
Environmental contamination
Environmental contamination is responsible for severe habitat degradation,
potentially compromising species survival. The most problematic issue is the
air pollution stemming from the extensive use of coal as the main energy
resource in China, accounting for 70.7% of the total energy consumption in
2002 (World Bank 2003). Most SO2 and suspended particulate emissions
originate from this source. SO2 emissions increased from 19 Mt in 1989 to
26.2 Mt in 1996. However, their levels decreased to 20.8 Mt in 2000, a
reduction of about 21% (Streets et al. 2001), due to the combined effects of
declining coal consumption and improving pollution controls. The effects of
acid deposition, primarily associated with SO2 emissions, have proven severe in
the most industrialized areas (south, central, and east China), where the yearly
average values of acid rain pH are less than 5.0 (with peaks as low as 2–3). In
fact, they have brought about the disappearance of some lichen species from
cities and forests near the pollution sources (SEPA 1998). CO2 emissions,
mainly originating from coal use, may contribute to the widely supposed global
climate change now ongoing, due to their ‘greenhouse’ effect. While the growth
in CO2 emissions has proven significantly less than was previously projected, it
still remains significant (22% increase during the period 1990–1996; Streets
et al. 2001). Indeed, a simulation with doubled CO2 concentrations in a climate
change model would result in dramatic alterations to the current ecosystem
distribution, as well as the migration of numerous species northward (Chen
et al. 2003). Nevertheless, a slight reduction (about 7.3%) was detected during
the years 1996–2000; a trend also exhibited by black carbon (2.2% reduction
from 1997 to 2000), and CH4 emissions (a decrease of 32% from 1995 to 2000)
(Streets et al. 2001), which may ameliorate this conjectural scenario.
Over-exploitation of species for human use
The over-exploitation of species of economic interest may seriously threaten
their survival. For example, though protected by law, certain plants used in
3996
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are still over-collected. More than 5000
plant species are often used in TCM (Liu 2001); in 1990, traditional Chinese
doctors prescribed ca. 700,000 tons of plant material (Xiao 1991). Furthermore, other kinds of traditional medicine also make extensive use of plants,
such as Tibetan medicine (up to 3600 plant species). Overall, it is estimated that
more than 11,000 species are used in China for their medicinal properties
(Hamilton 2004). Among the 426 herbal, unprepared, or stir-baked drugs listed
in the 1995 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China, 28
are included in the China Plant Red Data Book because of their threatened
status. However, 49 additional plants listed in the Red Book are also extensively
used in TCM (Peng and Xu 1997). Other valuable medicinal plants similarly
protected by law, such as Dendrobium candidum, Gastrodia elata, Cistanche
deserticola, Panax ginseng, Boschniakia rossica, and Oplopanax elatus, are
dwindling in wild habitats due to over-collecting. Moreover, despite widespread cultivation in China there are some species whose wild populations
remain severely depleted, both in number and size (e.g., Ginkgo biloba and
Juglans regia). In addition to medicinal plants, non-timber forest products have
been subjected to over-collection as well, including edible mushrooms (e.g.,
Tricholoma matsutake) and some orchids (e.g., Paphiopedilum) for their horticultural value.
Other human activities, such as fuel wood collection and timber procurement, have severely affected some forest species. Of the 8000 tree and shrub
taxa in China, about 2000 are timber species (World Bank 2001). Fuel wood
still serves as the main source of heating in rural mountain areas, constituting
nearly 70% of their total energy consumption. About 1300 km2 of forest in
NW Yunnan disappear annually due to fuel wood collection (Xu and Wilkes
2004b); in Diqing Prefecture (NW Yunnan) alone, a total of 600,000 m3 of fuel
wood are collected each year (Xu and Wilkes 2004a). Some of the most
threatened species include Haloxylon ammodendron, Cistanche deserticola,
Dalbergia odorifera, Tetraena mongolica, and Sophora moorcroftiana. Until the
logging ban of 1998 (around 300 million m3/year) – implemented as consequence of the Yangtze River floods – China’s forests resources had less than
10 years of remaining life (World Bank 2001). Nonetheless, illegal commercial
logging still occurs on a small scale, and it is estimated that about 80 million m3
are illicitly logged nationwide every year (CEPF 2002). This is particularly
egregious in Yunnan Province, where the actual cutting volume (including
timber and fuel wood) is over 40 million m3, despite reductions in the state’s
logging limit to 3 million m3 in 1998 and to 0.83 million m3 in 2000 (Yang et al.
2004).
Introduction of exotic species
China has a long history of introducing non-native species for their potential
economic value or other supposed benefit (medicinal, ornamental, soil
3997
improvement, erosion control, landscaping, etc). The first species introductions
took place more than 2000 years ago and comprised Carthamus tinctorius,
Medicago sativa, Punica granatum, Tamarindus indica and Vitis vinifera, among
others (Xie et al. 2001). China is a country particularly vulnerable to invasive
species as its wide range of suitable habitats and environmental conditions
affords the establishment and spread of new species (Xie et al. 2001). The first
batch of invasive alien species in China was recently (2002) approved by the
government and contains 16 taxa (SEPA 2003). However, in a preliminary
review of alien invasive species made by Xie et al. (2001), approximately 380
species of vascular plants that have become invasive in China were identified.
Some alien species have been introduced to restore the natural vegetation
without any previous assessment of their potential damage to local ecosystems.
For example, Sonneratia apetala, native to Bangladesh, has been used to
reforest mangroves in the Dongzhaigang Nature Reserve in Hainan Province
(Xie and Li 2004). Some of the invasive species most hazardous to native flora
are Eichhornia crassipes, Alternanthera philoxeroides, Eupatorium adenophorum,
Spartina anglica, Lantana camara, and Mikania micrantha. Alternanthera
philoxeroides is one of the world’s worst tropical aquatic weeds, spreading
artificially in China as pig fodder beginning in the 1950s, although it escaped
from cultivation since the 1980s. At present, it can be found in 20 provinces,
forming dense mats that float on the surface of ponds and lakes, shading the
indigenous aquatic vegetation from sunlight (Ye et al. 2003). Eupatorium
adenophorum is a perennial shrub that has invaded large areas in southern
China, displacing the native flora. Its incidence is especially severe in Yunnan,
where it covers an area of 247,000 km2 (Xie et al. 2001). In addition to plants,
mammals, birds, mollusks, insects and microorganisms have also caused
damage to native plant biodiversity. Examples include nutria (Myocastor
coypus), the sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea), rainbow lorikeet
(Trichoglossus haematodus), the giant African snail (Achatina fulica), the pine
scale (Hemiberlesia pitysophila), the fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea), the
vegetable leaf miner (Liriomyza sativae), and the North American pinewood
nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), among others.
Lack of effective environmental legal protection
The Chinese government bears a major responsibility for the tremendous
losses in plant biodiversity in the past but still at present. Development
policies have historically been focused on the exploitation of natural
resources. These include the ‘Great Leap Forward’ (1959–1960), a period in
which communities were encouraged to be self-sufficient in steel, with entire
forests cut down for fuel wood. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976),
campaigns for local self-sufficiency in grain, in tandem with the lack of logging controls, permitted the clearing of most forests. Another cause of
deforestation is the repeated changes in forestland ownership. After the land
3998
nationalization and communization of the 1950s, a household responsibility
system was introduced in 1978 that continues to the present day. These
changes have brought uncertainty to land ownership policies; indeed it is
sometimes difficult to know into which of the main ownership categories –
i.e., state, collective or household – a forestland falls, all of which has abetted
illegal logging. In fact, sudden changes in ownership policy have historically
been linked to significant increases in exploitation of forest resources (Xu and
Wilkes 2004a).
Following the adoption of the country’s ‘open-door’ policies in 1978, the
government began to legislate environmental protection and biodiversity
conservation. While some laws and regulations have been incorporated into the
legal system, they do not ensure adequate protection of plant biodiversity. The
intended scope of this legislation is to manage the use of natural resources, and
not their conservation while also coping with the growing problem of
enforcement (Li 1998). For instance, the environmental impact assessment,
introduced into legislation 20 years ago, still lacks effective implementation,
and is typically only applied to large construction projects.
Economic and population growth
China’s economic growth over the last two decades has reached the highest
rates of GDP (gross domestic product) in the world (an average of 9.4% during
the period 1979–2002; World Bank 2003), leading to strongly increased demands on the country’s natural resources. In fact, their exploitation has proven
ecologically unsustainable, particularly in the last five decades. One of the best
examples is the construction of Three Gorges Dam, which will flood over
600 km of the Yangtze main channel, an inundation area totaling of
28,000 km2 when finally filled in 2009 (Park et al. 2003). It will affect about 550
species, forcing the disappearance of entire plant populations including such
botanically interesting species as Buddleia lindleyana, Buxus harlandii,
Dimocarpus longan, Distylium chinense, Eriobotrya japonica, Hibiscus syriacus,
Litchi chinensis, and Trachycarpus fortunei (Anonymous 1996b; YWRP 2004).
Three taxa will sustain major damage: Adiantum reniforme var. sinense,
Chuanminshen violaceum, and Myricaria laxiflora, as all are endemic to the
Three Gorges area. Fortunately, a series of conservation measures has been
planned for these taxa, including the establishment of species-specific reserves
(for the three former taxa) and the maintenance of germplasm banks (YWRP
2004) Translocation of individual Myricaria laxiflora from populations that
will be flooded to new locations is currently underway, while that of Adiantum
reniforme var. sinense has already been planned (Huang 2005).
Economic development has involved the construction of numerous industries and the growth of new road networks (about 25,000 km of new
motorways have been built in the last decade). The unprecedented rise in the
per capita income and living conditions experienced by Chinese people (e.g.,
3999
the poverty incidence has declined from 49% in 1981 to 7.8% in 1999; World
Bank 2003) has generated a new industry, domestic tourism, with the
subsequent construction of new hotels and holiday resorts, often located close
to areas of natural and scenic interest or even inside nature reserves
(J. López-Pujol, pers. obs.). Improving accesses to these natural areas – via
the construction of new roads and cable cars – has contributed to habitat
degradation, since it has created an enormous influx of visitors. For example,
the construction of a new motorway linking Zhongdian with Kunming
(Yunnan) will greatly facilitate tourist access to the Three Parallel Rivers area
(J. López-Pujol, pers. obs.), probably one of the world’s least disturbed
temperate ecological areas. The number of visitors in Huangshan Mountain
has increased from 280,000 in 1979 to more than 1 million in 2001 (Eagles
et al. 2001). As a consequence of tourism’s impact in these areas, some
species are now threatened, including the lichen Phizoplaca huashanensis, an
endemic species of Huashan Mountain (Shaanxi Province), or the moss
species Actinothuidium hookeri and Hylocomium splendens in Emei Mountain
(Sichuan Province; SEPA 1998).
Population growth, which has slowed since the implementation of the
one-child policy, still remains significant. At present, the estimated total
Chinese population is ca. 1300 million, and is predicted to rise to 1480
million by 2025 (World Bank 2001). Moreover, given the expected economic
growth (China may become the world’s largest economy by 2041 in terms of
GDP; Wilson and Purushothaman 2003), the demands on natural resources
per capita will increase exponentially. Numerous species, particularly those
of economic value (agricultural, medicinal, timber), will suffer from
increasing direct (over-exploitation) and indirect (land conversion by farming, industrialization, or urbanization) effects, placing them on the verge of
extinction.
Past and current conservation measures
China has a long history of nature conservation; the first rules concerning
wildlife protection may well predate the Zhou period (1122–221 BC; Edmonds
1994). Historical conservation of the lands surrounding Buddhist and Taoist
temples, as well as their ‘sacred mountains’, by monks has preserved these
areas intact until the present day. Moreover, there is a clear link between
biodiversity conservation and minority cultures in China; indeed, the conservation of Holy Places, Holy Mountains, and Holy Trees by several ethnic
minorities is well known (Yang et al. 2004). There are, for example, 400 ‘spirit
mountains’ in the Xishuangbanna region (Yunnan Province), an area totaling
nearly 500 km2, which have historically been protected by local communities of
Dai nationality (Zhu 2001; Walters and Hu 2003). However, modern nature
conservation began late in China, and can be divided into in-situ and ex-situ
measures, as described below.
4000
In-situ conservation
The development of modern protected areas in China can be divided into four
main stages: 1956–1965, the initiation; 1966–1974, stagnation and devastation;
1975–1978, restoration; and 1979-present, a period of rapid growth (Lü et al.
2003). China’s first nature reserve was founded in 1956 at Dinghu Mountain in
Guangdong Province (Gu 1998). In 1957, the Wanmu Nature Reserve was
established in Fujian Province, and in 1958, the Xishuangbanna Nature
Reserve in Yunnan. Seven years later, up to 19 nature reserves had been
established, encompassing an area of about 0.7% of the total Chinese land
surface (Gu 1998). By the end of 2003, there were a total of 1999 nature
reserves, covering a total area of 1,439,800 km2; i.e., more than 14% of the
nation’s surface (SEPA 2003). Most have been established in the last two
decades (see Table 4), comprising the principal governmental measure for
protecting China’s biodiversity.
All nature reserves in China are placed into one of three categories based on
their function; i.e., natural ecosystems, wildlife, and natural relicts. Besides
nature reserves, there are two types of protection also recognized by Chinese
law: natural parks and scenic spots. A natural park in China differs from a
nature reserve in that conservation of the ecosystem and biodiversity ranks
equally with public enjoyment as the primary purpose (Gu 1998). The first
Table 4. Evolution of nature reserves in mainland China.
Year
Number
Area (km2)
Percentage of
Chinese territory
Number of national
nature reserves
1956
1965
1978
1982
1985
1987
1989
1990
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2010a
2050b
1
19
34
119
333
481
573
606
708
763
799
926
1146
1227
1551
1757
1999
1800
2500
11
6488
12,650
40,819
193,300
237,495
270,630
400,000
560,660
661,840
718,500
769,790
845,090
982,100
1,298,900
1,329,500
1,439,800
1,550,000
1,728,000
–
0.07
0.13
0.43
1.99
2.47
2.83
4.00
5.85
6.80
7.19
7.64
8.80
9.85
12.9
13.2
14.4
16
18
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
77
–
99
124
155
155
171
188
226
220
–
Sources: Gu (1998) and SEPA (2003).
a,b
are expected values (SFA 2004).
4001
natural park, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Hunan Province), was
established in 1982 (Gu 1998). By the end of 2002, there were 1078 forest
(including grasslands and wetlands) parks, totaling more than 98,000 km2.
Scenic spots, selected for their visual value, can also serve to protect plant
diversity, and in 2002, about 690 scenic areas had been established in China,
covering some 96,000 km2 (Anonymous 2003). In addition, there are more
than 50,000 small-protected areas, covering an area of nearly 14,000 km2 (Zhu
2001). Thus, taking into account all the protected areas described above, the
total protected land amount rises to ca. 1,650,000 km2, which represents about
16.4% of the Chinese national territory. Nevertheless, many protected areas
include villages, farms, grazing lands, and plantations, wherein the effectively
protected land is substantially lower. Seventeen Ecological Function Protection
Areas have recently been proposed, encompassing 7% of the total land area,
although they would overlap many other protected areas (Xie 2003a).
Nature reserves, natural parks, and scenic spots fall under four administrative management categories: national, provincial, municipal (or prefectural),
and county-level. National nature reserves (226 of the 1999) are those with a
significant international influence and/or special value for scientific research.
Some protected areas have received international recognition: 26 have been
designated as Biosphere Reserves under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere
Program; 8 are Natural World Heritage Sites; and 30 have been designated
globally significant wetlands under the RAMSAR Convention (see Table 5 and
Figure 1). One of China’s ‘flagship’ protected areas is the Xishuangbanna
Nature Reserve, established in 1958. With a total area of 2070 km2, it covers
more than 10% of Xishuangbanna Prefecture (Yunnan Province), and despite
having lost about 40% of its forest cover (CNCMAB 2004), harbors about
3500 species of higher plants, of which 300 are considered rare. In addition,
these small areas are home to 200 species of food plants, 100 species of oil
plants, 50 bamboo species, 300 plant species of medicinal interest, and 30
‘living fossil’ species (Nepal 2000).
Established in 1960, the Tianmushan Nature Reserve (Zhejiang Province) is
one of the most famous protected areas in China due to its remarkable number
of large trees. Also known as the ‘kingdom of big trees’, with an area of only
42.84 km2, this reserve is believed to contain one of the wild populations of
Ginkgo biloba (Del Tredici et al. 1992). In addition, there are exceptionally
large trees of Cryptomeria japonica var. sinensis, Cyclocarya paliurus,
Emmenopterys henryi, Liquidambar formosana, Litsea auriculata, Nyssa sinensis, Pseudolarix kaempferi, and Torreya grandis. The reserve is also very rich in
plant biodiversity, containing about 2160 species of higher plants (Tang and
Hegde 2001), with 29 taxa included in the China Plant Red Data Book (Del
Tredici et al. 1992). The existence of Buddhist temples in the area since
antiquity has probably preserved this ‘holy mountain’ to the present time.
In the last 20 years, Taiwan has developed a complex network of protected
areas geared towards conserving its plant and animal biodiversity, which
accounts for 19.5% of the total land area. To date, 6 national parks, 19 nature
4002
Table 5. Internationally recognized protected areas in China.
Name
Location
(province)
Natural World Heritage Sites
Huanglong
Sichuan
Jiuzhaigou Valley
Mount Emei and Leshan
Giant Buddha
Mount Huangshan
Mount Taishan
Mount Wuyi
Three Parallel Rivers
of Yunnan Protected Areas
Wulingyuan
Biosphere Reserves
Baishuijiang
Baotianman
Bogeda
Changbai Mountain
Dalai Lake
Dinghu Mountain
Fanjing Mountain
Fenglin
Foping
Gaoligong Mountain
Huanglong
Jiuzhaigou Valley
Maolan
Nanji Islands
Qomolangma
Mountain (Everest)
Saihan Wula
Shankou Mangrove
Shennongjia
Tianmushan
Wolong
Wudalianchi
Wuyi Mountain
Xilin Gol
Xishuangbanna
Yading
Yancheng
Ramsar Sites
Bitahai Wetland
Chongming Dongtan
Dafeng (Elaphurus
davidianus) Reserve
Dalai Lake
Sichuan
Sichuan
Anhui
Shandong
Fujian
Yunnan
Area
(km2)
Date of
Type of
inscription protected
area under
Chinese laws
700.00 1992
720.00 1992
154.00 1996
2
3
4
5
6
7
Nature Reserve
–
–
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve/
Scenic Spot
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Inner Mongolia 1005.06 2001
Guangxi
80.00 2000
Hubei
704.67 1990
Zhejiang
42.84 1996
Sichuan
2000.00 1979
Heilonjiang
–
2003
Fujian
565.27 1987
Inner Mongolia 10,774.50 1987
Yunnan
2417.00 1993
Sichuan
–
2003
Jiangsu
2800.00 1992
–
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
–
Nature
Nature
Nature
–
Nature
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
Yunnan
Shanghai
Jiangsu
19.85 2004
326.00 2002
780.00 2002
Nature Reserve 35
Nature Reserve 36
Nature Reserve 37
7400.00 2002
Nature Reserve 38
Gansu
Henan
Xinjiang
Jilin
Inner Mongolia
Guangdong
Guizhou
Heilongjiang
Shaanxi
Yunnan
Sichuan
Sichuan
Guizhou
Zhejiang
Xizang
Inner Mongolia
1990
1987
1999
2003
1
Scenic Spot
Scenic Spot
Nature Reserve
Nature Reserve/
Scenic Spot
Scenic Spot
Hunan
154.00
250.00
999.75
16,984.00
Nature Reserve/
Scenic Spot
Nature Reserve
Scenic Spot
Number in
the mapa
264.00 1992
2137.50
909.50
1286.90
1964.65
7400.00
11.33
383.00
283.53
350.00
2935.64
1380.00
2000
2001
1990
1979
2002
1979
1986
1997
2004
2000
2000
1060.90
213.30
206.29
33,800
1997
1996
1998
2004
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
8
20
21
22
23
4003
Table 5. Continued.
Name
Location
(province)
Dalian Spotted Seal
(Phoca vitulina) Reserve
Dashanbao
Dongdongtinghu
Dongzhaigang
Eerduosi
Eling Lake
Honghe
Huidong Harbor Sea
Turtle Reserve
Lashihai Wetland
Maidika
Mai Po Marshes &
Inner Deep Bay
Mapangyong Cuo
Nan Dongting Wetland and
Waterfowl Reserve
Napahai Wetland
Niaodao (‘Bird Island’)
Poyanghu
San Jiang
Shankou Mangrove
Shuangtai Estuary
Xi Dongting Lake
(Mupinghu)
Xianghai
Xingkai Lake
Yancheng
Zhaling Lake
Zhalong
Zhanjiang Mangrove
Liaoning
Area
(km2)
Date of
Type of
inscription protected
area under
Chinese laws
117.00 2002
Number in
the mapa
Nature Reserve 39
Yunnan
59.58 2004
Hunan
1900.00 1992
Hainan
54.00 1992
Inner Mongolia
76.80 2002
Qinghai
659.07 2004
Heilonjiang
218.36 2002
Guangdong
4.00 2002
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
Yunnan
Xizang
Hong Kong
35.60 2004
434.96 2004
15.13 1995
Nature Reserve 47
Nature Reserve 48
SSSI
49
Xizang
Hunan
737.82 2004
1680.00 2002
Natural Park
50
Nature Reserve 51
Yunnan
Qinghai
Jiangxi
Heilongjiang
Guangxi
Liaoning
Hunan
20.83
536.00
224.00
1644.00
40.00
1280
350.00
2004
1992
1992
2002
2002
2004
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
Jilin
Heilongjiang
Jiangsu
Qinghai
Heilongjiang
Guangdong
1054.67
2224.88
4530.00
649.20
2100.00
202.79
1992
2002
2002
2004
1992
2002
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Nature
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
Reserve
59
60
61
62
63
64
Sources: Hayes and Egli (2002), UNEP-WCMC (2004), WH (2004), WI (2004) and WNBR
(2004).aThe numbers correspond with their location in Figure 1.
reserves, 13 wildlife protection areas, 24 nature protected areas, 29 major
wildlife habitat areas, and 9 national forest nature protected areas have been
established (Yang and Su 2004). Kenting, the first national park in Taiwan
(established in 1984), contains rich subtropical and tropical flora, with about
2200 plant species (Hsu and Agoramoorthy 2004). Of these, more than 1000
are vascular plants (constituting 25% of the total species on the island) and 41
are classified as rare, including five endemics (Gu 1998). The impact of tourism
(the park receives about 3 million tourists annually) and the severe erosion
detected in some areas are the main conservation challenges facing the park
(Hsu and Agoramoorthy 2004).
4004
Figure 1. Location of the internationally recognized protected areas in China. The numbers
correspond with their location in Table 5. Circles represent the Natural World Heritage Sites,
triangles the Biosphere Reserves, and squares the RAMSAR Sites.
About 40% of the land area in Hong Kong is protected, the highest
percentage in the Asia Pacific region. Nevertheless, these protected areas do
not adequately cover some habitat types, such as freshwater wetlands and feng
shui forests near urban areas (Yip et al. 2004). Two main kinds of protected
areas have been established in Hong Kong: country parks (at present there are
23) and special areas (15). In addition, 64 sites of special scientific interest
(‘SSSIs’; Wu 2002) have been designated, mostly due to their floristic importance. The most emblematic protected area in HKSAR is the Mai Po Marshes
& Inner Deep Bay, which was designated as a Wetland of International
Importance (RAMSAR Convention) in 1995.
Ex-situ conservation
Although it is widely assumed that the most effective conservation measures
are those involving in-situ strategies, ex-situ facilities are important in providing scientific background and source material for future re-enforcements
and/or re-introductions. In fact, the most widely recognized ex-situ conservation strategy is the preservation of living plants in botanical gardens (and
4005
arboreta). Although the first modern botanical gardens were not established in
China until the beginning of the Twentieth Century, we can date their origin to
ca. 2800 BC (Medicinal Botanic Garden of Shennong), the earliest known
botanical garden in the world (Xu 1997). Sima Guang (1086–1019 AD) built
his ‘Enjoying-Myself Garden’, with designed plots and name cards in the plants
(Gu 1998). Temple gardens have played a significant role in the ex-situ conservation of Chinese flora; e.g., more than 100 plant species have been cultivated in the temple gardens of Xishuangbanna (Liu et al. 2002). The first
modern botanical garden, Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden (Taiwan), was
established in 1901, followed by Xiongyue Arboretum (Liaoning Province) in
1915, Taipei Botanical Garden (Taiwan) in 1921, and Nanjing Botanical
Garden Mem. Sun Yatsen (Jiangsu Province) in 1929 (Xu 1997). Nevertheless,
Hong Kong’s Zoological and Botanic Garden precedes these, established in
1861 (Chapman and Wang 2002). At present, about 140 botanical gardens
have been set up in China (Zhu 2001; He 2002; Huang et al. 2002), encompassing an area of ca. 2500 km2 and cultivating about 23,000 species of vascular plants, of which 18,000 are species found in China (Xu 1997, 1997); i.e.,
55% of Chinese flora. Of these, 4 are located in Hong Kong, 1 in Macao, and 4
in Taiwan.
At present, the largest botanical gardens in China are Beijing Botanical
Garden (South), Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Kunming
Botanical Garden, Nanjing Botanical Garden Mem. Sun Yatsen, and South
China Botanical Garden (see Table 6). Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical
Garden (XTBG) contains a collection of about 8000 taxa (Walters and Hu
2003), as well as several special collections (palms, orchids, bamboos, tropical
fruits, economic trees, shade-plants, medicinal plants, and tropical conifers). It
also harbors a collection of 30 species endemic to Xishuangbanna (BGCI 2004)
and an ex-situ conservation area for rare and endangered plants of southern
Yunnan, preserving ca. 1300 species (Xu 1997). Among the highlights of
Kunming Botanical Garden’s (Kunming, Yunnan) special collections are
Camellia, Rhododendron, and Magnoliaceae (He 2002). It also contains a
medicinal plant garden with ca. 1000 species used in Traditional Chinese
Medicine (KIB 2003). The Nanning Medicinal Plant Garden has about 2500
species of medicinal plants, with 134 endemic to Guangxi Province (He 2002).
Perennial and vegetatively propagated crops are preserved in 32 national
field germplasm nurseries (Zhu 2001), with over 37,000 germplasm accessions
belonging to 1026 species or subspecies (Gao et al. 2000). Furthermore, about
255 plant introduction bases had been established by the end of the 1990s,
thereby assuring the conservation of more than 80% of the nation’s protected
rare and endangered species. For example, these nurseries have successfully
propagated such rarities as Abies beshanzuensis, Alsophila spinulosa, Camellia
petelotii, Carpinus putoensis, Cathaya argyrophylla, Davidia involucrata,
Ormosia hosiei, and Ostrya rehderiana (Xu et al. 1999; Zhu 2001).
Seed storage in germplasm banks began in China during the 1980s with the
establishment of the No. 1 National Gene Bank (1983), with a capacity of
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Table 6. Some botanical gardens in Chinaa.
Name
Location
Area
(km2)
Number
of taxab
Data of
establishment
Beijing Botanical
Garden (South)
Beijing Botanical
Garden (Northern)
South China
Botanical Garden
Nanjing Botanical
Garden Mem.
Sun Yatsen
Kunming Botanical
Garden
Shanghai Botanical
Garden
Xishuangbanna
Tropical
Botanical Garden
Shenzen Fairy Lake
Botanical
Garden
Wuhan Botanical
Garden
Xiamen Botanical
Garden
Qinling Botanical
Garden
Hong Kong
Zoological and
Botanic Garden
Taipei Botanical
Garden
Beijing
0.56
5000
1955
Beijing
4.00
2700
1956
Guangzhou (Guangdong)
3.00
5000
1959
Nanjing (Jiangsu)
1.87
3000
1929
Kunming (Yunnan)
0.44
4000
1938
Shanghai
0.81
5000
1974
Menglun (Xishuangbanna,
Yunnan)
9.00
8000
1959
Shenzen (Guangdong)
5.90
3000
1982
Wuhan (Hubei)
0.70
4000
1956
Xiamen (Fujian)
2.27
3000
1960
Zhouzhi County,
Xi’an (Shaanxi)
Hong Kong SAR
458.00
0.054
6100 (2005);
30,000 (2010)
1200
2005 (first phase);
2010 (second phase)
1861
Taiwan
0.08
1500
1921
a
Data extracted from Xu (1997), Gu (1998), and BGCI (2004).
‘Taxa’ include species, subspecies, and varieties.
b
230,000 seed accessions, and the No. 2 National Gene Bank (1988), the latter
accommodating more than 450,000 accessions. Both are located in Beijing, No.
2 being responsible for the global germplasm conservation of Brassica
campestris, B. campestris subsp. pekinensis, Raphanus sativus, and Triticum
aestivum (MOA 1995; Gu 1998). Moreover, a National Duplication Gene Bank
was set up in Xining (Qinghai Province) in 1995, which has a total capacity for
400,000 accessions. Currently, about 318,000 accessions have been deposited in
these long-term storage facilities, representing 30 families, 174 genera, and 600
crop species (Gao et al. 2000). Twenty-seven mid- and short-term seed storage
facilities have also been built by local agricultural science academies in various
provinces and municipalities (Zhu 2001). China also established a seed bank in
1994 specifically for medicinal plants in Zhejiang Province, with a capacity for
50,000 accessions (Xue 1997; Gu 1998). In addition, the Chinese Academy of
4007
Medical Sciences set up a medicinal plant germplasm bank with a collection of
900 species (Xu et al. 1999). Taiwan has also made great efforts to conserve its
germplasm resources; the genebank of the Taiwan Institute of Agriculture can
store 240,000 long-term accessions (Gu 1998). Nevertheless, in China in vitro
plantlets conservation has only been applied to potatoes and sweet potatoes.
By the end of the 1990s, there were four in vitro storage facilities, two for
potatoes (Beijing and Keshan, Heilongjiang Province) and two for sweet
potatoes (Beijing and Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province; MOA 1995; Gu 1998).
Environmental legislation and government planning
In addition to in-situ and ex-situ measures, environmental legislation and
government planning are also essential to ensure adequate conservation of
biodiversity. Although China has passed a series of laws (nearly 20) addressing
biodiversity conservation since the early 1980s (see Table 7), legislation is still
limited. The most relevant laws governing plant biodiversity include the
Environmental Protection Law (issued in 1979, revised in 1989), the Forest
Law (issued 1984, revised 1998), the Grassland Law (issued 1985), and more
recently, the Seeds Law (2000). China has also issued a significant number of
administrative regulations (Table 7): the Regulation about Nature Reserves
(1994), the Regulation on Wild Plants Protection (1996), and the Regulation
about Protection and Administration of Wild Medicinal Material Resources
(1987) (Xu et al. 1999; Wang et al. 2000).
Nevertheless, there is some governmental oversight actively supporting biodiversity conservation in China in addition to these other laws and regulations,
the most relevant being the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system,
which was legally implemented in 1981 and amended several times thereafter
(1986, 1989, 1998, and 2002). Others mechanisms include: licensing systems
(such as forest logging and land use licenses), geared towards administering paid
use of natural resources and their sustainable utilization (Xu et al. 1999);
economic incentives, based on the establishment of financial subsidies,
tax-deductions, and compensation fees to enhance sustainable exploitation of
natural resources (e.g., the Forest Ecological Compensation Fee, implemented
in 2001, for restructuring the timber industry in favor of sustainable forestry;
CEPF 2002; CBD 2004); and the quarantine system, established in the early
1980s.
China has joined a number of internationally recognized conventions and
programs, such as the UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Program (MAB), the
CITES Convention, the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World
Cultural and Natural Heritage (WHC), the RAMSAR Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification. In addition, China joined IUCN as a country member
in 1996 and became a member of the International Convention on New Plant
Variety Conservation in 1999 (Zhu 2001). China signed the Kyoto Protocol in
Laws
Environmental Protection Law
Constitution
Marine Environmental Protection Law
Forest Law
Grassland Law
Water and Soil Conservation Law
Import and Export Animal and Plant Quarantine Law
Seeds Law
Law on Desert Prevention and Transformation
Law on the Environmental Impact Assessment
Law on Biosafety
Administrative regulations
Plant Quarantine Regulation
Temporary Regulation on Management of Scenic Spots
Regulation for the Implementation of the Forest Law
Regulation about Protection and Administration of Wild
Medicinal Material Resources
Regulation about Control of Forest Fires
Regulation about Control of Forest Pests
Regulation about Seed Management
Regulation on Afforestation in Urban Areas
Regulation about Nature Reserves
Regulation on Wild Plants Protection
Regulation on the Safety Management of Agricultural
Biological Genetic Engineering
Regulation on New Plant Varieties Conservation
Environmental Management Regulation of Construction Projects
Regulation for Implementation of Forest Law
Regulation of Biosafety Management in China
Legal instrument
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)
State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
State Forestry Administration (SFA)
State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
1997
1998
2000
2001
1988
1989
1989
1992
1994
1996
1996
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)
Ministry of Construction (MOC)
State Forestry Administration (SFA)
State Administration of Traditional
Chinese Medicine (SATCM)
State Forestry Administration (SFA)
State Forestry Administration (SFA)
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)
State Forestry Administration (SFA)
State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
State Forestry Administration (SFA)
State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
(SEPA)
(SEPA)
(SEPA)
(SEPA)
1983
1985
1986
1987
(SEPA)
State Environmental Protection Agency
National People’s Congress
State Marine Administration (SMA)
State Forestry Administration (SFA)
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)
State Environmental Protection Agency
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA)
State Environmental Protection Agency
State Environmental Protection Agency
State Environmental Protection Agency
Lead agency
1979 (1989)
1982
1982 (1999)
1984 (1998)
1985
1991
1991
2000
2001
2002
Under redaction
Date of issue (and revision)
Table 7. Legislation concerning biodiversity conservation issued in China.
4008
4009
2002, which was recently ratified (November 2004). State-level planning related
to biodiversity conservation began in earnest during the early 1990s. To
implement Article 6 of the CBD, the China Biodiversity Conservation Action
Plan was launched in 1994 (see NEPA 1994). The First National Report on
Implementation of the CBD was submitted in 1997, the second following in
2001. In 1994, China’s Agenda 21 was issued as a guide for drawing up medium
and long-term plans on sustainable economic and social development. A third
national plan was launched at the end of 1997, China’s Biodiversity: A Country
Study, which analyzed the country’s overall biodiversity, its economic value and
benefits, the cost of implementing the CBD, and long-term objectives for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of biological resources (SEPA 1998).
The Tenth Five-Year (2001–2005) Plan of National Economic and Social
Development, as well as the 2015 Plan, place more emphasis on sustainable
development strategy as one of the state’s central policy goals (Zhu 2001).
The most relevant inter-departmental programs include: the China Environmental Protection Action Plan (1996–2000), implemented to ensure the
conservation and sustainable utilization of forests, grasslands, the marine
environment, wetlands, nature reserves and species (Xue 1997; Xu et al. 1999);
the Development Plan for Nature Reserves in China, consisting of two phases
(1996–2000 and 2001–2010); and the National Tenth Five-Year (2001–2005)
Plan for Environmental Protection, which establishes several goals, such as a
10% reduction in the discharge of major pollutants, and an expansion of the
nation’s nature reserves to encompass 13% of the total land area (SEPA 2002).
The Chinese government has also sought to implement several departmental
plans, detailed herein. The State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA,
formerly NEPA) launched the China Trans-Century Green Engineering Plan
(issued in 1996), as well as China’s Agenda 21 for Environmental Protection
(issued in 1994). The State Forestry Administration (SFA, formerly Ministry of
Forestry) initiated the National Plan for Forest Ecological Construction in
1998, with three objectives: short (1996–2000), moderate (2001–2010), and longterm (2011–2050). It has also issued China’s Forestry Biodiversity Conservation
Action Plan (1992), the Forestry Action Plan for Agenda 21 (1995), the Action
Plan for Implementing the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (1998),
and the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetland Biodiversity in China
(2000–2004). In addition, all of the agencies and ministries have launched their
own sectorial Tenth Five-Year (2001–2005) and 2015 long-term plans.
The future of plant biodiversity in China: problems, prospects,
and recommendations
Habitat destruction
The huge habitat destruction suffered in China, particularly since the 1950s,
began to receive attention by the government authorities only in recent years,
4010
due at least in part, to the occurrence of natural disasters and the fall in crop
productivity associated with soil erosion and land desertification. To redress
this situation, the state implemented a series of forestation and shrub or grassplanting projects. Although the first plans were ratified in the late 1970s (Jiang
2002), they consisted exclusively of mono-culture forest plantations involving
exotic species, lacking any scientific basis and failing to account for local floristic features. For example, state plans implemented in the Northern Loess
Plateau resulted in substantial changes in local vegetation (Jiang et al. 2003), as
well as the construction of the shelter forest system – such as those found in the
Triple-North region and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River –
often consisting of mono-cultures. New afforestation initiatives should follow
some basic scientific guidelines to avoid certain pitfalls; e.g., ban the introduction of exotic species, prevent massive invasions and severe pest outbreaks,
and guarantee the availability of habitats and resources to indigenous species.
One of the principal objectives of the ‘Great Western Development Plan’, a
global program to bridge the gap between the prosperous coastal areas and the
under-developed interior provinces, one still currently under way (endorsed in
2000), is to ensure sustainable natural resources management through forestation and grass planting (CEPF 2002; Jiang et al. 2003). Two large-scale
programs focusing on the Upper Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the Natural
Forest Conservation Program (1998–2010) and ‘Grain to Green’ (or Land
Conversion Program, 1999–2010), have been launched to reduce the erosion of
sloping lands caused by deforestation and cultivation. (Zhang et al. 2000;
CEPF 2002). Between 1996 and 2050, the National Plan for Forest Ecological
Construction intends to increase forest coverage to 17.5% of the total land area
by 2010 and by 25% in 2050 (Xue 1997; Xu et al. 1999), an ambitious initiative
that should incorporate the scientific criteria mentioned above. Although these
programs arguably represent one of the best opportunities for biodiversity
conservation, additional efforts should be made by authorities to achieve an
integrated strategy of sustainable forest exploitation and long-term ecological
protection, instead of merely relying on tree plantation.
Protected areas
China’s National Endangered Plant and Wildlife Protection and Nature
Reserves Construction Program, aimed at protecting biodiversity over the next
50 years, stipulates that the number of nature reserves must reach 1800 by 2010
(with 220 of those at the national level), occupying an area about
1,550,000 km2 and accounting for 16% of the Chinese territory. By 2050 the
number of nature reserves should reach 2500, encompassing an area of
1,730,000 km2 and accounting for 18% of the total land surface (SFA 2004). In
fact, the goal for 2010 has been already attained due to the impressive rate of
nature reserves establishment, particularly during the last 20 years (see Table
4). For instance, in Tibet alone, nature reserves cover about 400,000 km2; i.e.,
4011
one-third of the province’s total land area (Miller 2003). Unfortunately,
provisions for staffing and financing to manage and protect these reserves have
not increased at the same rate. For example, by 1997 only 67% of all nature
reserves had staffs and budget; i.e., about one-third were protected only ‘on
paper’ (Jim and Xu 2004). Moreover, by 1997 only 20.8% of the staff was
professionally trained (to include higher education) (World Bank 2001). The
problem is due, at least in part, to the fact that only a minority of the reserves
(about 10.7% at the end of 2002) are financed at the state-level, with adequate
resources (staff and budget) for their management and protection. Consequently, many reserves are forced to be self-sufficient through resource
exploitation, a policy inconsistent with their intended purpose. Construction of
tourist facilities (resorts, new access routes) and over-exploitation of wildlife
resources (e.g., medicinal and edible plants) should evolve towards sustainability, instead of seeking short-term benefits, and should be planned and
managed to combine biodiversity protection with assurances of adequate
economic benefits to local communities. Their growing prosperity, in tandem
with increasing demands on natural resources, would best harmonize in the
commercial cultivation of economically viable species, such as medicinals,
which would also serve to reduce their endangered status. Involving local
communities in the management and administration of reserves is a key step
for the long-term sustainability of nature reserves, since it is the best way to
ease the pressures brought on reserves by local residents (Eagles et al. 2001).
Nevertheless, nature reserves are afflicted with other serious problems besides insufficient budgets. Overlapping management – in some cases involving
up to seven administrations (World Bank 2001) – can cause confusion, inefficiency, uncertain boundaries, and multiple designations of the same reserve. To
date, many reserves are too small, too damaged, or too remote from biologically significant areas to determine their success in biodiversity protection
(World Bank 2001; Jim and Xu 2004). The design of nature reserves has not
been entirely rational in the past, nor have criteria addressing biogeographical
and/or ecosystem representativeness been followed. Furthermore, lands managed by the army are still excluded from the protected areas network, while in
other countries the military is granted secondary stewardship (Liu et al. 2003).
Establishing a centralized management by a new Nature Reserves Service at
the state-level, and with adequate funding, may be the best way to solve these
problems, as has been suggested by several authors (World Bank 2001; Liu
et al. 2003).
Evaluating the effectiveness of nature reserves is generally a neglected issue
in China, as they are not routinely monitored (Lü et al. 2003). For instance, of
those reserves located in the South-Central China hotspot, 25% have no
patrols, 75% have no monitoring programs in place, and 70% lack comprehensive resource inventories (CEPF 2002). Another example is the Wolong
Giant Panda Reserve, which after its establishment in 1975, remains unexpectedly fragmented, with rates of habitat loss inside the reserve similar or even
higher than those outside the reserve (Liu et al. 2001). One general trend is that
4012
nature reserves often do not provide adequate protection of their flora. This is
true even of international-level reserves, an all too common occurrence
exemplified by Ophiopogon xylorrhizus, a narrow endemic species confined to
an area 30 · 20 km within the Xishuangbanna Biosphere Reserve (Yunnan). Of
the extant populations of this species, one has recently become extinct, while
population sizes have significantly decreased in the other localities (Ge et al.
1997).
The traditional cost-benefit approach is seldom appropriate for managing
protected areas or the natural environment in general, since there are numerous
ecological values improperly weighed or undervalued, such as the inherent
ethical and aesthetic values (Yang and Xu 2003). Nevertheless, Chinese managers often look only for short-term economic gain, without considering the
long-term ecological benefits provided by environmental protection, such as
the prevention of soil and water erosion and the reduction of floods and
droughts (Athanas et al. 2001). For example, the economic value of the environmental services provided by the Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve is
estimated to be 16 times higher than that garnered from the conventional
timber production co-located there (Athanas et al. 2001).
Ex-situ conservation measures
Although the number of botanical gardens has significantly increased during
the last decades, they remain relatively few in number and are often not of
adequate size (about 40% of the botanical gardens are smaller than 0.5 km2)
nor plentiful in species (ca. 60% of them have fewer than 1000 taxa) (NEPA
1994). Yet another deficiency is that they are not representative of the local
floras across China; some regions boasting a rich plant diversity have too few
botanical gardens, such as the Himalayas, the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, and the
dry-hot valleys of southwestern China, a trend also apparent in the three
primary distribution centers for endemic plants in China (SW Sichuan-N
Yunnan, E Sichuan-W Hubei, and S Yunnan-SW Guangxi) (Xu 1997; Ying
2001; He 2002). Moreover, conservation of the protected rare and endangered
species has still not been attained; currently, about 350 of the 388 species
included in Volume I of China Plant Red Data Book (i.e. 90%) are cultivated,
while only about 200 of the 640 species listed in the forthcoming Volume II of
the Red Book (i.e. 31%) are preserved in China’s botanical gardens (Xu 1997).
Xu (1997) also warns of the risks in cultivating one species in less than 5
different botanical gardens, which is a common occurrence among the protected rare and endangered species. From the first batch of the Red Book, only
48.5% of the species are preserved in ‡ 5 botanical gardens, a percentage that
dropped to 0.5% in the second batch. Furthermore, population sizes are
generally not sufficient for maintaining adequate levels of genetic diversity.
Only a few cultivated species included in the first or second batch of the Red
Book (less than 40%) have more than 10–20 individuals in any given botanical
4013
garden, the threshold for preserving genetic diversity suggested by Xu (1997).
Some of these deficiencies should be remedied by the Qinling Botanical Garden
(Xi’an, Shaanxi Province), which after its completion in 2010 will be the largest
botanical garden in the world, with an extension encompassing 458 km2. A
total of 6100 rare and endangered species will be specifically cultivated, 3200 of
them belonging to the Qinling area, 900 from temperate areas, and 2000 from
tropical and subtropical zones (Anonymous 2002). Meanwhile, the Chinese
Academy of Sciences has drafted a 15-year ex-situ master plan to conserve the
diversity of native Chinese plants in botanical gardens, which is now being
implemented. Its main goals are to increase the number of native protected
species to 21,000, to enhance the garden collections of rare and endangered
plants, and to create 5 new regional gardens (Huang et al. 2002).
The establishment of a new germplasm bank in Kunming (Yunnan) has been
planned to secure the preservation of the germplasm resources of SW China.
The ambitious goal of collecting the seeds of 24,000 plant species native to
Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Tibet should be reached in 2010
(Cyranoski 2003). In-situ and ex-situ conservation approaches have been successfully combined in the conservation of the endangered species Vatica
guangxiensis at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. The only three
remaining populations of this species (located in Yunnan and Guangxi) have
been included in the Nature Reserves network, with about 90 individuals
successfully transplanted to this garden (Li et al. 2002).
Environmental legislation
Legislation addressing biodiversity has significantly expanded in the last two
decades. Nevertheless, two major problems remain: an insufficient and inefficient legal system and a lack of enforcement (Li 1998; Xu et al. 1999). The main
purpose of these laws and regulations has been to manage the use of natural
resources and not their conservation. Moreover, they are often oriented to only
one type of natural resource, lacking specific regulations to preserve entire
ecosystems (Li 1998). There is no comprehensive law governing nature conservation, since the Environmental Protection Law is mainly focused on pollution control (Xu et al. 1999). Another inconsistency inherent to China’s
environmental legislation is the lack of rules regarding civil and criminal
responsibilities compared with those delineating administrative responsibility.
In addition, administrative punishments only mandate damage compensation
rather than removal and/or rehabilitation (Xu et al. 1999).
Historically, law enforcement has been one of the major problems in the
establishment of a sound legal system in China. Violations of environmental
legislation are all too common and even tolerated. For example, there is a
generalized lack of effective in-situ legal protection for nationally listed rare
and endangered plant species; this is the case for approximately 1/3 of those
species found in the Yangtze Valley (Xie 2003b). According to Li (1998), there
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are three main causes explaining this poor enforcement: a lack of capability on
the part of administration (staff is not sufficient to ensure legislation enforcement), lack of coordination among the different administrative levels (several
agencies are sometimes responsible for the same protected area), and widespread corruption among government officials.
Implementation of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) has experienced enormous difficulties in the past. Prior to passage of the Law on the
Environmental Impact Assessment in September 2003, Chinese environmental
legislation only focused on individual construction projects that might pollute
the environment, rather than addressing all activities affecting natural
resources. Moreover, EIA only targeted individual construction projects, was
not binding on government-proposed projects, and did not fully review all the
construction projects. At the end of the 1990s, the rate of inspection had
reached about 90% (Xu et al. 1999; Zhu 2001) despite the fact that it had been
deemed mandatory for all construction projects. The recent implementation of
the EIA Law is a very positive step, as it expands the scope of independent
oversight, reviewing all governmental land use and regional construction and
development programs, which have usually generated larger environmental
problems than did individual construction projects.
Scientific research
Large-scale national surveys of vegetation, natural ecosystems, flora and
fauna began in the late 1950s, and include Vegetation of China (1980),
Cryptogams of China (4 volumes), Flora of China (Flora Reipublicae Popularis
Sinicae) (60 volumes of the 80 projected in 1950), and Economic Flora of
China (Xu et al. 1999). Currently, the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) and
the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) are working together on the ‘Flora
of China’ project, an international effort to produce a 25 volume Englishlanguage revision of the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae. At present, 11
volumes have already been published and they can also be browsed online
(see FOC 2004). These same institutions (MBG and CAS) have also promoted the ‘Moss Flora of China’ project, which aims to provide an online
version of the 8 printed volumes of the Moss Flora of China, to include Hong
Kong and Taiwan (MFC 2004). Regarding conservation biology, some surveys and studies have been published since the early 1990s, including Chinese
Biodiversity – Status and Conservation Strategy (Chen et al. 1993), A Biodiversity Review of China (McKinnon et al. 1996), Conserving China’s Biodiversity (Schei and Wang 1997), China’s Biodiversity: A Country Study (SEPA
1998), and The Plant Life of China (Chapman and Wang 2002). The first
volume of the China Plant Red Data Book was finally published in 1992 after
10 years of work (Fu 1992), and the second volume is currently in preparation. Furthermore, provinces such as Guizhou, Henan, and Shaanxi have
published their own plant red books.
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Other biodiversity surveys include the national survey on traditional Chinese
medicinal resources, conducted between 1984 and 1994, and identifying 12,807
species (11,146 plants and 1581 animals; Xu et al. 1999). SFA has performed
five-year surveys (including censuses) of forest resources since 1973, recently
completing their 6th forest survey. Moreover, some 36 ecological field stations
have been established, organized into the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network. China also has more than 150 biodiversity databases (Xu et al. 1999;
SEPA 2004). Taiwan has also made considerable efforts to study the island’s
biodiversity, with the publication of Flora of Taiwan (6 volumes, two already
available online; FOT 2004) and the Red Data Book of Taiwan Region: Criteria
and Measure for Rare and Threatened Plant Species (Lai 1991). In the Hong
Kong SAR, the first surveys on flora were conducted as early as 1861, with the
Flora Hongkongensis of G. Bentham. The most recent works on plant biodiversity are the Hong Kong Vascular Plants: Distribution and Status (Corlett
et al. 2000), and the Check List of Hong Kong Plants, 2001 version (Wu 2002).
Despite the significant strides made by these various administrations, universities, and research institutes, there are still significant gaps in the knowledge
of biological diversity. The lack of information on China’s threatened plant
species is particularly worrisome; of the nearly 5000 endangered taxa, only 675
from mainland China are evaluated in the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species (IUCN 2004). Two additional volumes of the Plant Red Book are need,
since the first volume appeared as long ago as 1992. Moreover, the evaluation
criteria for the threatened species in the Chinese Red Book (e.g., a plant species
must number 10 or fewer populations to be considered threatened), as well as
the threat categories (i.e. ‘endangered’, ‘rare’, and ‘vulnerable’), which are
strongly influenced by the academic interest of species (Xie 2003b), should be
replaced with the standard international criteria (i.e., IUCN criteria).
Economic policies, financial resources, and environmental education
Government policies have promoted rapid growth since the end of the 1970s,
when the ‘open-door’ policy was first adopted. These policies, which encourage
short-term economic benefits, have also been implemented in protected areas.
Some nature reserves are currently both exploiting natural resources and
promoting tourism in unsustainable fashion. Natural parks, due to their dual
roles of preserving nature and providing public enjoyment, have policies generally geared toward commercial and economic development. Tourism and
natural resource in protected areas should be planned and managed in such a
way as to ensure their long-term sustainability.
One of the main reasons for the over-exploitation of natural resources and
the lack of biodiversity protection is that the importance of biodiversity is not
fully understood. Moreover, its economic value is often underestimated, as
potential long-term benefits are seldom contemplated (McNeely et al. 1990;
Green et al. 2005). For example, the 1998 flooding in the Yangtze area caused a
4016
total loss of 167 billion yuan (about 20 billion USD; Zhang et al. 2000). The
annual economic loss caused by environmental pollution and overall damage
to biodiversity during the 1990s may well have surpassed 600 billion yuan
(about 72 billion USD; SEPA 1998). In contrast, the total value of China’s
ecosystem services may total approximately 8000 billion yuan per year (about
960 billion USD), according to calculations made by Chen and Zhang (2000), a
figure very close to the Chinese GDP in 1999.
Using the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, low-income
societies can be characterized by low environmental degradation (including
resource depletion), which increases with economic growth until a certain level,
after which further increases in income result in environmental improvements
(Panayotou 1995; Yandle et al. 2004). This fact seems clearly linked to the
changing value of biological resources during the evolution of economic
development: high in ‘traditional societies’ (being highly dependent on the
direct use of natural resources but at a highly sustainable rate). This trend
greatly diminishes in transition economies (which base their economic growth
primarily on such over-exploitation, and subsequent trade, of natural resources). Subsequently, the curve tends upwards again in developed societies,
which demand services (rather than goods) derived from environmental conservation (e.g., ‘ecotourism’ and the return to ‘traditional’ or ‘folk’ medicine
and foods; Thampapillai et al. 2004). The Chinese population’s recent but
unprecedented access to wider industrially-based goods, as well as the burgeoning employment opportunities (mainly cheap labor) stemming from skyrocketing industrial activities unfortunately involves the continuous and still
long-term decimation of natural resources, especially given their under-valued
nature and increasing demand.
Another major culprit in the current loss of biodiversity is the lack of
financial resources. The current investment levels of the Chinese government
remain inadequate, although they have increased significantly in recent years.
The total environmental investment for the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996–2000)
was less than 1% of GDP (i.e. 450 billion yuan), and is about 1.3% of GDP
(i.e. 700 billion yuan) in the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001–2005) (World Bank
2001). Expenditure should increase at least 3.5% GDP per annum, based on
the estimated environmental costs forecast by the World Bank (2001). In
addition to increasing such funding, the government should encourage the
active participation of all sectors of Chinese society, the private sector in
particular (e.g., foundations associated with private companies given fiscal
exemptions), as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The lack of available information on both ecological and biodiversity data
and environmental governmental policies, coupled to a lack of education,
renders civil society insensitive towards the current loss of biodiversity. Environmental awareness should be enhanced, both through both public media and
education systems (including high schools and universities). Environmental
awareness should be particularly geared towards the indigenous and local
communities, as they usually have more direct contact with the natural
4017
resources in both protected and unprotected areas. Government efforts should
also be made to offer high-level conservation education programs, as suggested
by Wu et al. (2004a, b); e.g., establishing a national centre for ecological and
evolutionary studies and enhancing cutting-edge research in the already extant
institutes and universities.
Conclusions
(1) China boasts an extremely rich plant biodiversity on the three basic levels:
species diversity, ecosystem diversity, and genetic diversity, due to the
wide variations in geographical, geological, climatological, and topographical features spanning its territory. At the species level, there are
more than 33,000 taxa of vascular plants (ca. 30,000 of these are angiosperms) in mainland China alone. The Taiwan and Hong Kong regions
are also home to numerous species (more than 4000 and 2000 higher
plants, respectively).
(2) The primitive groups of vascular plants (i.e., pteridophytes, gymnosperms, Magnoliidae, and Ranunculidae) are abundant in China. Ancient
gymnosperm lineages, most being monotypic or oligotypic and probably
remnants of larger groups from the Tertiary period or earlier, are still
thriving in China, when they have long ago been rendered extinct in other
regions of the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, China is considered one
of the main centers of diversification for seed plants on Earth, containing
fossil remains of primitive angiosperms dating from the early Cretaceous
period.
(3) Many species (more than 10,000), as well as some genera (nearly 250) and
a few families (Ginkgoaceae, Eucommiaceae, Davidiaceae and Acanthochlamydaceae) are endemic to China. While most are paleoendemisms,
significant percentages are neoendemisms formed via allopatric speciation.
(4) Several paleo-geological and paleo-climatic events have been hypothesized to explain such high rates of taxonomic richness: the initial collision
of the Gondwanan terranes, as well as the subsequent impact of the Indian subcontinent (resulting in the formation of the Himalayas). Also
believed to have played a part are long established land interconnections
with surrounding areas, and the climatic change that occurred during the
Neogene period.
(5) Approximately 3000–5000 species are considered endangered, with nearly
200 species rendered extinct since the 1950s. Moreover, many species are
currently on the brink of extinction.
(6) Several local ‘biodiversity hotspots’ have been identified in China, in
addition to 3 of the world’s 34 hotspots (‘South-Central China’, ‘IndoBurma’ and ‘Himalaya’), including northern Yunnan, Xishuangbanna,
4018
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
Sichuan, the Tibetan Plateau, the Three Gorges area, and Hainan and
Taiwan Islands.
The combined effects of habitat destruction and/or fragmentation,
environmental contamination, over-exploitation of natural resources, and
to a lesser extent, the introduction of exotic species, have caused irreparable damage to plant biodiversity. Economic and population growth
have also contributed to this deterioration. Habitat destruction (primarily
resulting from over-logging and cropland expansion) is the leading cause
of species extinction, particularly since the 1950s. The over-exploitation of
species of economic interest seriously threatens their survival, as have
alien invasive species, with some 380 species of vascular plants infesting
areas in China. In addition, previous policies focusing on the exploitation
of natural resources must be amended and/or replaced by ones promoting
scientific conservation and sustainable utilization of plant diversity.
Legal in-situ protection strategies in China – nature reserves, natural parks,
and scenic spots – have been significantly expanded since their establishment in the late 1950s. Taking into account all the known protection statistics, the total protected land areas in China measure ca. 1,650,000 km2,
representing approximately 16.4% of the country’s national territory. Lack
of staffing and investment are all too common problems afflicting protected
areas, with most forced into self-sufficiency by exploiting their own resources. Other deficiencies include overlapping management structures,
inadequate design, and a lack of monitoring and/or evaluation. Yet another
weakness is the utter disregard or under-evaluation of the ecological benefits provided by protected areas in pursuit of short-term economic gains;
i.e., mortgaging future economic welfare to satisfy immediate needs.
At present, about 140 botanical gardens have been established, cultivating
ca. 23,000 species of vascular plants, of which 18,000 are native to China.
Nevertheless, there are still too few botanical gardens, with none adequate
in size or in the number of representative species, poorly approximating
China’s richest floristic areas and lacking the majority of the country’s
rare and endangered species. It is to be noted, however, that 32 national
field germplasm nurseries, 255 plant introduction bases, and 3 national
gene banks have been established in China.
While significant advances have been made in scientific research on China’s mainland flora, additional efforts are needed. Some international
large-scale projects, such as ‘Flora of China’ and ‘Moss Flora of China’,
are currently underway, and are remedying this situation. However, many
gaps still remain, especially in the knowledge of rare and threatened
species. Taiwan and Hong Kong have also made considerable strides in
studying their respective biodiversity.
Legislation addressing biodiversity conservation was first initiated in the
early 1980s, but remains relatively limited and is afflicted by two major
failings: (1) the lack of a sufficiently broad conservationist scope – the
main purpose of legislation is to manage the use of natural resources and
4019
not their conservation, and there are no specific regulations to preserve
entire ecosystems; (2) the lack of any effective enforcement.
(12) Some state-level plans concerning biodiversity conservation have been
applied since the early 1990s. Minor plans have also been implemented
since the late 1970s, including those on forest plantations, but more often
than not these have consisted of mono-cultures involving exotic species.
New afforestation projects must prevent the introduction of exotic species
and pursue an integrated strategy of sustainable forest exploitation and
long-term ecological protection.
(13) One of the main causes for the current loss of biodiversity is the lack of
any true awareness or appreciation of its value. Another reason is the lack
of financial resources; current investment levels by the Chinese government remain inadequate. In addition to increasing such funding, the
government should encourage the active participation of all sectors of
society in biodiversity conservation, particularly the private sector and
non-governmental organizations. Environmental education should also
be strengthened and specifically geared towards indigenous and local
communities.
Acknowledgements
The stay of Jordi López-Pujol in the Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany (CAS), has been subsidized by a grant of
MECD (Spain). The authors thank A-Man Zhao, Jinghua Shi, Ming Lai and
Zhiyun Zhang from the Institute of Botany (CAS) of Beijing, and Ting Gu,
Xiaoyu Li (Chengdu, Sichuan) and Zhixiong Wang (Guangzhou, Guangdong)
for various helps, and to two anonymous reviewers. This work was partly
supported by the State Key Basic Research and Development Plan of China
(G2000046805).
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